Based on the fact that the Reds play in a park with smaller dimensions, what do you think that means with respect to whether the team should emphasize pitching or power? I know the general rule is baseball is to emphasize pitching, what I am really getting at is whether that school of thought more or less true when playing in a smaller park.

When the park opened I thought it would be important to have a ton of sluggers here and outscore everyone (the leatherpants approach). I don't think I was looking at the issue the right way. I think it is the opposite. A slugger will be able to hit the ball out of any mlb park if they get a mistake pitch. Hitting deep shots is not necessary at GABP. GABP brings opens the door for players who are not known as sluggers to put up good numbers because they will get alot of "cheap" home runs that may be power alley outs or off the wall doubles in other parks. I think we are seeing this played out this year as our middle infield (SS and 2B) is on pace to hit over 50 homeruns.

I have come to the conclusion that GABP will require the Reds to focus more on pitching than if they played in an average park, because a slugger is going to hit a mistake out of any park but GABP opens the door up for many more players with less power to hit a mistake out. Therefore, I am not saying ignore the offense, but if I am running the team, I would be spending a greater percentage of money on pitching than league average.

Do you guys agree?

mroby85

08-22-2007, 11:02 PM

i agree, i think good pitchers will still pitch well in this park. aaron harang doesn't seem to have any problems.

Degenerate39

08-22-2007, 11:05 PM

You need a fair blend of both

Screwball

08-22-2007, 11:09 PM

i agree, i think good pitchers will still pitch well in this park. aaron harang doesn't seem to have any problems.

That's the thing - very good pitchers pitch well at GABP. However the average (and worse) pitchers get lit up. As thin as the market is, and the kind of money FAs are getting nowadays (e.g. Ted Lilly, Gil Meche), it's going to cost a pretty penny to assemble a good pitching staff if we can't develop it from our own system.

captainmorgan07

08-22-2007, 11:11 PM

we've obviously went the outscore method and we all know that didn't work. Like some have said already i think u need a good blend of both. But the key is you need consistency out of both the whole season. Starting rotation and bullpen cant have a month long lapse of forgetting how to throw a strike. In the same token the offense can't take a lapse where they lose all plate discipline and become free swingers.

AmarilloRed

08-23-2007, 12:55 AM

We need 5 ground ball pitchers in the starting rotation. As long as they hit the ball at infielders, the size of the ballpark does not matter

Vada Pinson Fan

08-23-2007, 04:32 PM

Give me better pitching over the option (if it was that simple) of having better hitting at GABP. I knew when Jim Bowden and John Allen wanted to have a short right field for Griffey, Jr. and Dunn that was a mistake. Those two don't need any help with short/small outfield dimensions. Would've been cool to have seen GABP have the old NYPolo Grounds field statistics. On second thought...... maybe not, LOL!!!

indyred

08-23-2007, 07:46 PM

They really need to tinker with the demensions. I'd like center field brought all the way out to the batter's eye and make that a mini monster. Get rid of the wasted space in front of it now. Have to hit it over the batter's eye for homer. Wouldn't lose any seats there and gived the park some character. I'd also like them to do what Philadelphia did and raise the fences a few feet with the mesh look in both left and right.

Dracodave

08-23-2007, 08:35 PM

I think you need a blend of three or four things. Groundball staff that can actually keep the ball down low. A bullpen that can strike people out at a good rate and strand runners. A decent fielding team that can also score runs. Last but not least..a ballpark built to be the middle grounds, not pure hitters but not pure pitchers.